Janica Sims poses with her three children in this undated family photo. (Janica Sims)
A state judge in Colorado has recognized a Japanese ruling denying an American parent access to his minor children, a decision that advocates say sets a dangerous precedent for U.S. soldiers.
The decision by Fourth District Judge Erin Sokol in Colorado Springs caps a nearly two-year saga that began in a Japanese family court in Tokyo, where Janica Sims lost custody of her children to her Australian ex-husband, who is a permanent resident of Japan has.
On Aug. 27, Sokol rejected an emergency request from Sims, a U.S. citizen, to stay a state judge’s order granting her ex-husband custody of their two sons.
The ruling set the stage for Sims’ children’s return to Japan and the loss of their parental rights, Sims said in a series of recent telephone interviews with Stars and Stripes.
The state judge had accepted Japanese jurisdiction in a custody case involving Sims’ two children, both American citizens living in the United States.
Foreign custody orders are treated like claims from another U.S. state, although they are brought to court much less often, Kathryn Liss, executive director of DePaul University’s Schiller DuCanto and Fleck Family Law Center, said by phone Sept. 29.
“Obvious violation”
John Gomez, president of the Japan-based advocacy group Kizuna Child-Parent Reunion, believes the ruling violates U.S. and international laws and treaties and could result in U.S. soldiers losing custody of their children to their foreign former partners he said by phone in August. 29.
“Back in [Washington] DC, you need to know about this because the [Judge Advocate Generals] “We have to educate the military members,” he said, calling the verdict a “blatant violation” of children’s rights and family law.
“This is a very dangerous precedent,” he said. “It shouldn’t come to that; This needs to be nipped in the bud.”
Before ratifying the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in 2014, Japan was known for protecting its citizens who abducted their own children from foreign spouses.
But hundreds of parents before Congress are still fighting for access.
Japan’s Civil Code states that divorcing parents must decide who will retain parental custody, as harm to the child may occur if the parents do not agree. This allows one parent to deny access to another parent, activists and family lawyers say.
A three-judge panel of the Tokyo District Court upheld Japanese custody on June 22 after 12 dissatisfied parents challenged it, according to a summary of the ruling on the court’s website.
Sole custody
Janica Sims’ custody battle began in April 2021 when her husband David Sims began divorce proceedings after mediation failed, according to court documents in Colorado. Janica Sims wanted joint custody of the children.
The Tokyo Family Court awarded David Sims sole custody in March 2022, according to Sokol’s August 27 order. An attorney for David Sims, Lorna Horton of Feingold Horton in Colorado, did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Janica Sims said the Japanese court made the decision without informing her of the hearing while she was in Colorado. Court documents show she “apparently dropped out” when she learned of Japan’s sole custody system.
A month later, David Sims petitioned Sherri Gryboski, the judge in El Paso County, Colorado, to register the foreign custody order.
Because the Sims’ sons lived in Colorado, the Tokyo Family Court appeared to concede in January that it had no jurisdiction over the case when it refused to hear Janica Sims’ motions, her lawyer Tomohito Sasaki in Tokyo said by phone Sept. 1 with.
On February 9, Gryboski granted David Sims’ petition and upheld the Japanese custody decision.
But she also ruled that the Colorado courts would now have jurisdiction over any changes and that Janica Sims’ “parenting time” and “decision-making authority” would have to be taken into account.
Colorado law allows judges to reject foreign custody claims that “violate the fundamental principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Sokol affirmed the judge’s decision and ordered Janica Sims to hand over the boys’ passports without verification.
Sokol also noted that Janica Sims did not appeal Gryboski’s sentence. Sims said her previous attorney failed to appeal the judge’s order and she has since hired a new attorney and filed several unsuccessful lawsuits.
“Far-reaching impacts”
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Japan is a signatory, states that parents should not be separated from their children unless, after judicial review, it is in their best interests.
Under U.S. law, all parents are entitled to visitation or parenting time unless it is deemed detrimental, wrote Jeff Atkinson, a former adjunct professor at DePaul University College of Law Chicago, in an article for the U.S. Embassy website in Japan.
The impact of the Sims case is “alarming,” said Mirjana Sujic Stamenic, a Serbian asylum lawyer who is working on the case with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Recording foreign custody orders without thorough review, particularly in cases involving American citizens, raises concerns about the adequate protection of human rights, the best interests of children and due process principles,” she said via email dated March 30 August.
The decision could have “far-reaching implications” for other Americans and military families stationed abroad, she added.
Janica Sims has so far refused to comply with the judge’s order; Your children could be confiscated at any moment.
“I don’t know what we will do next, but it could be asylum until the decree is lifted,” she said. “Our own country is persecuting us.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.
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